


Conquering Fears

by nyxiefics



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Established Juke, F/M, Partying, Referenced Juke, Referenced Willex, Underage Drinking, a few swear words, established willex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 07:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30102201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyxiefics/pseuds/nyxiefics
Summary: Reggie spends a night of adventures with a girl he didn't know, they started the night as strangers and ended it as such. He was so fond of the memory that he wrote a song about it, little did he know that the girl was in the crowd.
Relationships: Kayla/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Conquering Fears

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Gift for the Six-Month Anniversary of JATP organized by @jatp-gift-exchange on Tumblr. It’s for @emeraldrain55 , you asked for Rayla content and since there is a severe lack of Rayla content I made both the edit above and this fic, I sincerely hope you like it. This is an Alive AU, everyone is 18 except for Carlos who is 16.

This fic is based on a song called Conquering Fears that a friend of mine wrote, you can listen to it [Here](https://soundcloud.com/user-591795767/conquering-fears)

* * *

Reggie is sitting in the studio, his parents are fighting again, and he needed to get away from it. Luckily Julie said he could spend time in the studio whenever he wanted and if he gave enough notice then Ray would even prepare him a plate for dinner.

He’s scrolling through his camera roll when he comes across some photos he took a couple of months ago, it was like a trip down memory lane. There was about fifty photos from one night, a night of conquering fears, a night of adventures, a night with someone he hadn’t seen since. It felt like forever since that night he spent with a stranger.

“Who’s that?” Luke asks.

“Just some girl,” Reggie replies.

“Does some girl got a name?” Luke questions, a smirk on his face at the faraway look on Reggie’s face.

“Probably, I just know her as Kandy.”

“What? You mean she gave you a fake name?”

“Oh yeah. That was part of the deal.”

“What was the deal?”

“The deal to go on one amazing adventure to remember forever.”

“Do I get to hear about the adventure?” Luke asks.

“Alright,” Reggie decides, “It all started at that party at the Wilsons’s house that you and the band dragged me to...”

* * *

It was on a mid-December night, Reggie and the rest of the band were at a party. Reggie was never really one for parties and he spent all day trying to think of an excuse not to go, but when his parents started fighting a few minutes before the band showed up to pick him up he knew that the party would be a better idea than staying in.

That was that, he got into the van and was taken to Bobby and Carrie Wilson’s house for the party. The band knew Bobby through music class and Julie and Carrie were friends since they were kids, so they were some of the first to get invites to the party.

Carlos was supposed to join them at the party. He was gonna have fun and would keep Reggie company so that he wasn’t alone when the couples snuck off. Problem was, he had a baseball game and couldn’t make it, meaning Reggie was the only member of Julie and The Phantoms going to the party stag.

From the second he saw the crowded room almost overflowing with people Reggie wanted to leave. He stayed for his friends, though that was short-lived, Alex finding Willie and sneaking off to some closet to make out in, Julie and Luke also sneaking off to make-out somewhere, leaving Reggie alone at a party he didn’t want to go to in the first place.

He decided to go to the kitchen; if he’s going to be here he might as well have a drink to make it more bearable. It was in the kitchen that he met her. She was beautiful. She had long dark hair that flowed down her back and and beautiful eyes the color of molasses. She wore a lilac cropped hoodie over a black t-shirt and black skinny jeans.

And that was when she saw him, he was stunning with his messy dark hair and his chestnut eyes. He wore a leather jacket over his white t-shirt and ripped black skinny jeans. They locked eyes and she walked over to him, getting herself a drink.

“Hey,” Reggie said, and she looked up, “I’m not a photographer, but I can picture you and I together.”

She groaned at the pick-up line and he smiled, “I’m sorry, but I have a rule that I don’t hook up with people at parties. All the feelings and romance are just heat of the moment.”

“It’s usually not real, don’t worry, I get you. I’m guessing you haven’t always had this rule?”

“Not exactly, just a bad experience that’s got me against that kinda thing for life,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “The feelings are fake, it’s just party goggles mixed with alcohol.”

“Oh no, I get it, I’m the only single one in my friend group, that’s why I’m hanging out here. But I know that it’s all just an illusion, that’s why I’m not putting the moves on you.”

“That wasn’t the moves?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Oh... oh you thought that was the moves?” he asks, laughing a bit, “Oh no, that was just messing around. You would know if it was the moves, the people making out _upstairs_ would know the moves.”

“Okay, okay,” she smiles, “I have an idea.”

“Interested.”

“The worst part is always the morning after, right? When you leave someone’s house, or someone leaves your house and you realize that you don’t even know their name.”

“That’s true,” he nods.

“Well what if we do everything tonight except the closer?”

“...Meaning?” Reggie asks, a little slow on what she was suggesting.

“We do all the fun things we could do but we don’t sleep together at the end of the night. We do the full show but stop before the season finale.”

“Okay, I’m game. What are we gonna get up to then?”

“Well, it’s a party so we’re gonna have to dance a bit. Then we gotta do something crazy for the giggles, then we can leave and just wander around and chill. Then at the end we go our separate ways and never see each other again.”

“So we have an amazing night of adventures together and then we’re strangers again?”

“Exactly.”

“Or...”

“Nope. No or. A night with perfect memories you’ll keep forever and a mystery of who it was with. That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

Reggie stands there for a second, finishing his drink and weighing his options. He could go on an adventure with a pretty girl but not get the satisfaction of even kissing her at the end... _or_ he could stay at the party, _maybe_ hook up with a girl and never see the pretty girl ever again.

“I’ll take it. But how are we going to stay strangers if we spend the night together? We gotta call each other something,” he points out.

“You’re right. Fake names, first letter is the same, no social media handles.”

* * *

“No. No Reggie please. Tell me you weren’t dumb enough to say yes.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

“Works for me. My name is... Ren. What’s your name?” Reggie asked.

“Nice to meet you Ren, my name is Kandy, like with a K,” she puts down her empty cup and shakes his hand. Reggie, or ‘Ren’ keeps a hold on her hand and takes her back to the living room where music is blaring.

“May I have this dance, Kandy?” he asks in a terrible posh accent.

“Why yes, of course, Ren,” ‘Kandy’ replies in an equally bad accent.

And so they danced. They danced to the rock songs and the pop songs, they partnered up for the slow songs and eventually Kandy got bored of dancing.

“You’re an incredible dancer,” Ren told her.

“You should see when I dance planned choreography, you’d be on bended knee,” she smirks, bragging just a smidge.

“I gotta say, it wouldn’t be _too_ out of character for me to fall for a dancer,” he admits, “Now that we’ve danced, what was your idea of something exhilarating to keep our adrenaline pumping?”

“Oh, that?” she grins widely, “What we’re gonna do, is have another drink, and go upstairs.”

This confused Ren, for part of the deal was that they weren’t going to sleep together, but he did as Kandy had said and had another drink with her. She then led him upstairs and into a specific room.

“Ta-da,” she said with a flourish of her hands.

“Whose room is this?” he asked.

“Carrie Wilson’s,” she revealed.

“Yeah, uh-huh, and what are we doing in Princess Wilson’s room?”

“We,” she said, traipsing around the room before finding what she was looking for, “are stealing this silver tiara.”

Reggie was in shock. Not only did Carrie Wilson own a tiara, he was only joking when calling her princess, but Kandy planned to steal it.

“I—no, we can’t steal a tiara!” he protested.

“Well why not?” Kandy asked, placing it on her head and Reggie had to admit, she looked gorgeous with it on.

“Because... it’s wrong!”

“Not really,” Kandy shrugged. “She has the money for like a dozen more. Besides, were only _really_ borrowing. I’ll return it eventually. I promise.”

“You promise?” Reggie repeated, not impressed, “Really?”

“Yeah, really. Look, I’ll even pinky promise,” she said, holding out her pinky which he reluctantly linked with his own.

* * *

“She actually _stole_ Carrie’s tiara?” Luke exclaims.

“Yeah, she did,” Reggie chuckles at his friends baffled face.

“And you trusted she’d return it because of a pinky promise? I can’t believe it!” Luke’s shocked at his friend.

“Well yeah, besides, Carrie still has her tiara, she wore it on Christmas, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s true. But still! Our little Reggie, a thief.”

“Whatever, anyways, back to the story...”

* * *

They walked back down the stairs, Carrie’s tiara in the pocket of Kandy’s hoodie. They snuck out to the backyard and it was quiet, well quieter than indoors. The twins had said that no one was allowed into the backyard because that’s where the pool was, and they didn’t want to have to clean it before their dad came back on Sunday.

But with a new sense of rebellion Reggie decided to break the rule and Kandy joined him. They sat on the sun loungers and took a couple photos with each other. Kandy reminded him not to post it and he agreed. After a bit Reggie had an idea with time. He smirked before turning to Princess Kandy.

“You still got your blood pumping, or do you want to do something else fun?”

“Depends on what it is, Ren.”

“How do you feel about jumping into Carrie and Bobby Wilson’s swimming pool fully clothed at 11 at night when they specifically said no pool?”

“Honestly? Not that good.”

“Wait really?” he asked, shocked at her change in pace.

“Yeah,” she shrugged shyly, “I can’t swim.”

“You ca- are you serious?” he asked, not meaning to be rude.

“I am. I’m afraid of putting my head under the water.”

“Look, I’ll go in first, and then you can join me. You don’t have to put your head under water if you don’t want to,” he reasoned with her.

Kandy still looked hesitant to get into the pool.

“Please?” Reggie pleaded, “I did your thing.”

She rolled her eyes before smiling so he knew it was in amusement, “Fine.”

With that Reggie took off his leather jacket, socks and his shoes and got into the water, he hissed loudly at the temperature, putting Kandy even further off getting in. He insisted it wasn’t that cold, but she wasn’t convinced. She took off her hoodie, socks and shoes before going to the edge just to feel the water this her toe.

What she didn’t expect was for Reggie to grab her by the waist and pull her into the pool. The water splashed around them, but true to his word he kept her head above water. The water was shallow enough for them to both stand with their heads just above the water level.

They sent waves back and forth to each other, splashing as much water as they could to the other, laughing loudly. Unfortunately, they were loud enough for Bobby to hear and he began to exit the house to tell them off. Not wanting to get yelled at by an angry Bobby Wilson they got out of the pool, grabbed their socks, shoes and jackets and ran. They climbed over the fence, only slightly cutting themselves on the barbed wire and escaped.

“That was so much fun!” Kandy smiled.

“Yeah, it was,” Reggie was unable to hide his grin.

“Where do we go now?”

“We wander the streets of LA.”

“LA? We’re in Malibu!”

“I got Uber.”

And so Reggie got an Uber and it showed up ten minutes later. They got into the back seat and giggled the way to LA, talking about everything and nothing, telling each other thinks about each other but not giving enough details to figure out who the other is.

The got out of the Uber and wandered the streets of LA, they passed a few nightclubs and could hear the music that was playing inside. They danced their way through the streets, laughing and singing any song that came to mind. They went bar hopping for a bit, having a couple drinks before Kandy suggested she take them somewhere.

Reggie let the girl lead him to a tattoo parlor where a friend of hers, Nick, worked. He was a bit thrown off when she had told him to call her Kandy but decided against asking, he was also a little mad that they wanted to get tattoos while drunk, it was a recipe for disaster, but when they insisted upon it he gave in.

They chose each other’s tattoos, Reggie ending up with the outline of the lollipop emoji on his left forearm and Kandy having the outline of the puppy emoji on her right forearm. They thought it was cute, apparently the tattoos had significance to their personal lives, but divulging that information would ruin the magic.

* * *

“Wait, is that why you always wear sleeves this past few weeks?” Julie asks, having walked in halfway through the story.

“Well yeah, I didn’t know how I’d explain it, so I thought I’d just not tell you,” Reggie replies.

“The Reggie in this story is a completely different person to the shy bassist we know and love,” Luke shakes his head smiling.

“Okay, forget all that, tell us more,” Julie begs.

* * *

After getting tattoos Kandy asked if they could go up to the Hollywood sign. At first Reggie declined because of his fear of heights.

“Really? Heights? Okay, now we _have_ to do it,” Kandy had declared.

“What? Why?” Reggie questioned.

“Because, you made me face my fear, now you gotta face yours.”

“Do we _have_ to?” Reggie pouted.

“Yes, you big baby,” Kandy said, holding both of his hands, “Now come on, let’s get a cab to the bottom of the hill.”

Begrudgingly, Reggie let her call for a cab and got into it and they drove to the bottom of Mount Lee. He was look at how high up the sign was and still didn’t want to climb the mountain. But he promised Kandy. And Reggie never breaks promises. Kandy talked to him the whole drive so as to try and calm his nerves. He had no way to back out as they were dropped off at the foot of the mountain and the car drove away.

They began the hike up to the sign. The whole 3.3-mile hike. It took a while to get up there and so they talked quite a bit.

“So, why are you afraid of heights?” Kandy questioned the boy.

“Well, I uh, I get these like intrusive thoughts, at least that’s what my friend calls them. And basically I get the sudden urge to do things that I just really shouldn’t do if I want to not get badly injured. Like I’ll be in a car and then have the urge to jump out, I never go through with it but thinking about it and picturing the outcome is kinda scary.”

“Oh, so like when you’re up high you just randomly picture what it would be like to fall down?” Kandy wondered aloud.

“Yeah, basically. And even though I never act on the urges it’s scary. So I try not to go too high up anywhere.”

“Well that’s understandable.”

There was silence once more and they continued walking up the mountain. Every now and then they would stop and see how much of the city they could see from where they were. Kandy would hold Reggie’s hand to reaffirm that he’s with her and that he wouldn’t fall.

“So why were you at the party?” Reggie asked after a while.

“My friends were all going, so I came too. Thing was they found guys to hook up with, leaving me alone because of my rule,” Kandy explained.

“Ah, more or less the same reason as me then. I went with friends, but they’re all in couples so they snuck off to make out and left me alone. I didn’t even want to go, but they dragged me along. Carlos was supposed to come, but he had a baseball game so he couldn’t make it.”

Her eyes widened for a second, “And you couldn’t think of anyone else to join you?”

“No... I found out on the way here from his sister.”

“Ah, okay.”

There was silence once more as they finally made it to the top of the hill and to the iconic Hollywood sign. They stood at it as they overlooked the city. It being so late at night, or early in the morning depending on your life choices, all they could see was the lights of buildings and cars, but the view was still beautiful.

* * *

“Really? You stood at the Hollywood sign?” Julie asks in disbelief.

“Yeah! I did!” Reggie confirms.

“I don’t believe it.”

“Well believe it, ‘cause it happened.”

* * *

Reggie had put on some of the music that was on his phone, being careful not to play anything by the band so as not to reveal who he was. They danced and sang along to all the songs, they even ended up fighting over who was a better artist, what song was better and what genre was better. Never in his life had Reggie defended country music as well as he did that night with Kandy, not even to Luke.

Then, they saw the sun begin to rise in the horizon. They laid down next to the sign and watched the sunrise, a couple of yawns escaping their mouths, having stayed up all night.

Reggie turned to Kandy and the way the sun hit her face made her look even more angelic. She turned to face him, and they locked eyes, his eyes dropping down to her lips, if only for a second. He began to lean in when she stopped him.

“We can’t kiss,” she had said.

“Why not?” he implored.

“Because, if we kiss then it makes this real. What’s the best part of a first kiss?”

“I don’t know. The kissing?”

She laughed at his response, “No, it’s the moments leading up to the kiss, the build-up, it’s like the drumroll.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“What I’m saying is that we can’t kiss, but we can still have the best part of the kiss.”

* * *

“The drumroll? Jesus Christ, Reggie please tell me you didn’t agree to that!” Luke was impatient as ever with the story.

“Shut up Luke! I think it’s romantic,” Julie butts in.

* * *

And so he agreed to the drumroll. But first they raced down the mountain, obviously it took a while to get back down and there were breaks every five minutes because they were out of breath. They got to the bottom of the hill and it was around eight in the morning. They walked closer to the street so that they could catch a cab when they parted ways.

“Drumroll now?” Kandy had asked.

“Yeah,” Reggie said, he might not have been able to kiss her, but he would take this drumroll.

They leaned in as if for a kiss, eyes closed, close enough to feel the other’s breath fanning on their lips, lips almost barely touching... and then she pulled away.

“See? It’s the perfect memory,” Kandy smiled at him.

“Well yeah, this night was amazing, and I’m gonna have so many good memories of it. But I’ll also have one crappy memory of you walking away,” Reggie said sadly.

After a beat Kandy speaks up, “Okay, Ren, I want you to close your eyes and count to ten.”

“Okay,” Reggie did as he was told, “One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten.”

Reggie opened his eyes again, and there was an empty space where the dark-haired girl once stood.

* * *

“And that’s it? That’s the last you saw of her?” Julie asks, eager to know.

“That’s the last I saw of her,” Reggie confirms.

“And you haven’t seen her since?” Luke asks.

“And I haven’t seen her since.”

“Well what are you gonna do about it?” Luke questions.

“Nothing,” Reggie shrugs, “That was the deal. Start the night as strangers, have an amazing night of adventure, and end the night as strangers again.”

“You know what you gotta do, right?” Julie inquires.

“What?” Reggie asks.

“You gotta write a song about her,” Luke and Julie say in unison. It’s freaky when they do that.

“I gotta write a song about her?” Reggie asks for assurance.

“Yeah, you have to,” Luke says confidently. “You can even make it a country song.”

“Why would I write a song about her?” Reggie questions.

“Because, not only was it an amazing night of wondrous fun, but it was a night full of memories and emotions. You gotta let those feelings out Reg.”

“Look, Reg, you write a song about this girl and we’ll perform it onstage,” Julie tells him.

“We will?” Reggie and Luke exclaimed in unison.

“I, uh, I mean we will,” Luke repeats, more confident this time, making Julie facepalm.

“Okay, I’ll write a song. It will be country, and _I’ll_ sing it onstage,” Reggie says.

“Deal,” Luke and Julie smile.

The couple left the studio and Reggie went back to his camera roll. Kandy, or whatever her real name was, probably didn’t realize he had taken so many photos. He never posted any, true to his word, but the photos of her were amazing, some of the best he’d ever taken. They were mostly candids, her laughing or her with the Carrie’s tiara on, or her with a look of concentration on her face as she hiked up Mount Lee.

* * *

That was a week ago. Luke had told Alex the story and Julie had told Carlos and Flynn the story. They all agreed that they wouldn’t look for the mystery girl. All except Carlos. Because Carlos knew who the girl was.

Carlos had gone to the party that night, he had had a baseball game, but it ended early enough for him to have time to get changed and go to the party a little late. When he showed up Reggie was nowhere to be seen, so he tried to find the kitchen to get himself a drink.

It was then that he had bumped into a girl with dark hair, brown eyes who was dressed in a purple hoodie and black jeans.

“Oh, sorry, are you okay?” Carlos asked her.

“Ah, yeah, I’m fine,” the girl responded. “You’re Carlos, right? Julie Molina’s Little brother.

“Yeah, yeah I’m Julie’s brother,” he confirmed. “And you are..?”

“I’m Kayla, I dance in Dirty Candy along with Carrie.”

“I thought you looked familiar.”

“Yeah, well, are you looking for someone, or?”

“I’m looking for my friend Reggie, but I can’t seem to find him, so I was going to try and get myself a drink instead. Problem is, I can’t find the kitchen.”

“Don’t worry, I know my way around this maze, I’ll get you a drink. Just sit tight and I’ll be back in a second.”

In a second. That’s what she had said. But she didn’t return. Carlos did, however, see her with Reggie, and Reggie had one of the biggest smiles on his face that Carlos had ever seen. So instead of calling them out, he let them dance together and eventually found the kitchen himself.

Carlos didn’t know how to tell Reggie that he knew who the mysterious girl was, so he didn’t. Instead he saw a gig that Dirty Cady was playing and suggested to Flynn that she sign Julie and The Phantoms up, and she did.

* * *

The band had played a couple of songs before Luke spoke into the microphone.

“This next song was written by Reggie, our bassist,” Luke said, and the crowd cheered, “It’s a little different from our usual stuff, a little country as Reggie love it. It’s about spending one magical night of adventures with stranger.”

With that Reggie took out his acoustic guitar and started strumming, “The song is called Conquering Fears, and if the girl who it’s about is somehow listen, I hope you like it.”

_Flicking through the photos in my phone_

_And I don’t see nothing_

_Except for a trip down memory lane_

_Nothing’s quite the same_

Scrolling through his camera roll and seeing the pictures he took that night, he was always going to feel sentimental, he was always going to yearn for the mystery girl.

_'Twas a winter evening_

_When I first met you_

_Seems like a million years ago_

_Times moving so slow_

It was just over a month since the party and yet it felt like forever. He missed her, but he wasn’t sure if he could miss someone he never really knew in the first place.

_We was conquering fears that night, without any doubts_

_Climbing to the top of Everest and building it a bigger mount_

_Standing on top of the empire state and jumping to the ground_

_Boy, we even went to England and stole the royal crown_

Okay, maybe he had exaggerated their adventures just a smidge, but why not? It was his adventure, the only other person who needed to know exactly what happened was Kandy. Besides, they did climb a mountain, just not Mount Everest. And they did steal a crown, just not really the Queen of England’s.

_We never got to sleep that night_

_Dancing to the beats_

_We even watched the sun come up_

_We all felt like grownups_

For the first time in a while, Reggie felt like he wasn’t just a kid. On that night he wasn’t worrying about homework, or tests, or his parents fighting. All that was on his mind what how amazing the night was and how much he liked the girl he spent it with.

_Starting world war three_

_And partying in the streets_

_We never wanted that day to end_

_Life started to mend_

It was fun fighting over music with the girl, they couldn’t have more different tastes. The girl preferred bubblegum pop whereas he had a passion for country. Dancing with her to the music in the streets of LA was so fun that he had to do it again sometime, but it wouldn’t be the same without her.

_We was conquering fears that night, without any doubts_

_Climbing to the top of Everest and building it a bigger mount_

_Standing on top of the empire state and jumping to the ground_

_Boy we even went to England and stole the royal crown_

_I’m closing my eyes and I see you_

_Shooting the sun and riding the moon_

_I’m closing my eyes and I see you_

_Boy, I hope to see you soon_

He knew he wouldn’t see her again. That was the deal. That was the plan. But he could always dream, and he did. Every so often the girl’s face would appear in his dreams, he always remembered those dreams, he always treasured them. They were the only adventures he had with her after that night.

_We was conquering fears that night, without any doubts_

_Climbing to the top of Everest and building it a bigger mount_

_Standing on top of the empire state and jumping to the ground_

_Boy we even went to England and stole the royal crown_

_Flicking through the photos in my phone_

_And I don’t see nothing_

_Except for a trip down memory lane_

_Nothing’s quite the same_

Just as their night had ended the same way it began, with the two as strangers, the song had ended the same way it began, with Reggie reminiscing whilst looking at the photos he took.

The cheers from the crowd when the song ended were deafening. He could hardly hear himself think as he looked out at the crowd of people, who seemed to love his song as much as he did. But it was when he was looking at the crowd that he saw her. She was there. She heard the song.

At least he thought it was her, she was dressed in purple like that night, but she had purple hair too. It was only when he saw her holding up her right arm, forearm bare, with only the tattoo of the puppy emoji on it that he was sure it was her.

He got off the stage and began walking towards her, the audience parted, and the girl began running towards him. When she reached him she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, finally kissing him like they both wanted to on that night.

Though he stumbled when he caught her, Reggie kept his balance and kissed her back. After a moment he pulled back and looked at her, “What about the drumroll?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“Fuck the drumroll,” she said, pulling him back in for another kiss.


End file.
